The Must-Play Game This Week – Tekken 7

Just when you thought your fighting game itch has been scratched by Injustice 2, Tekken 7 arrives on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. And guess what? Mostcriticsloved it. Here’s what you need to know about Bandai Namco’s new game:

1) Despite having “7” in the name, the game is actually the ninth instalment in the long-running series. It’s also the first game in the series to be developed using Unreal Engine and is the first Tekken game to arrive on PCs.

2) The series’ storyline has mostly been silly but Tekken 7 will be darker than its predecessors. According to producer Katsuhiro Harada, it will be the final chapter in the Mishima family saga.

3) Tekken 7 will have a roster of over 30 playable characters. Highlights include female vampire Eliza from Tekken Revolution and Street Fighter’s Akuma.

Yes, Akuma is in Tekken 7.

4) Harada revealed that the fighting game will impose penalties for rage quitters:”You can’t keep someone from physically pulling out the LAN cable, so the only thing you can do is make them not want to do that by having some kind of penalties. Although we can’t really go into that at the moment, we do have penalties planned for that. We don’t want to go into a lot of detail right now because the hackers and such will already start about thinking of ways to circumvent that. But we do have plans to implement some penalties.”

5) Tekken 7 DLCs will continue until spring 2018. Here’s an overview:

The 1st DLC will arrive in summer 2017. It comes with a new game mode and over 50 additional costumes.

The 2nd DLC will arrive in winter 2017. It comes with a guest playable character from another game series, a special stage, and costumes for the guest character.

The 3rd DLC will arrive in spring 2018. It comes with a guest playable character from another game series, a special stage, and costumes for the guest character.

6) The new Rage Art mechanic lets you pull off finishing moves that inflict lots of damage and take out foes if their health is low enough.

7) Tekken 7’s VR mode isn’t in first-person perspective (like most VR games are). Harada explains:”If you could imagine that you have some kind of a martial artist or pro boxer or something come and do shadowboxing right in front of your face, you can then probably begin to see how that’s not a very entertaining or enjoyable experience. Added to that, you’d be knocked into the air for, like, an aerial juggle or whatever – it’s really jarring and not very fun.”

2017 is shaping up to be a great year for fighting games. Beyond Injustice 2 and Tekken 7, there’s also Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (coming in September) and For Honor (released in February), among others. So many games, so little time; it’s a good problem to have.